LADYBUGS AND ROSES!

Jake and I went to the park today to feed the ducks our spoiled bread. On the way back to the car we found and caught at least 10 ladybugs! We kept them in Jake's baseball hat until we got back to the car and then put them in an empty cup. Then we came home and put them in the bug holder! Fun.

When we were looking at the ladybugs, we also found this catepillar that Jake didn't know he caught!

After that last storm that came through a week ago, our rose bush took a beating and was drooping over a lot. I didn't want to cut it, but the weight of the branches was going to kill it. There are still tons of roses on it, and we anchored the top branches so I can still look at them out the kitchen window when doing the dishes. The roses are just beautifull though and now I have this vase full to look at inside the house as well!

Yesterday Jake and I went to a store and while we were there Jake really wanted me to by myself a pink box with rhinestones all over it. I asked why and he said "for yours jewelry." I laughed and told him I already had a giant jewelry box in my bedroom and said I didn't need another one.

So Randy comes home later in the day and he and Jake are out in the garage building things with nails and wood. Jake came in and showed me what he had made me. It was this cute little jewelry holder! He then proceeded to start hanging jewelry I have been making for our show in May.

 

I kept thinking how sweet of Jake to be thinking of me. As I looked around the room though, I began to realize that maybe Jake wasn't really thinking of me. When I make jewelry, I pull A LOT of stuff out to help get the creativity and ideas going. I realized I really have taken up a lot of his playroom floor. So, maybe Jake wasn't so concerned about his mother having a jewelry holder, but maybe he just wanted his playroom floor back!

 

Supernova

Here is Bradley's first science project ever. He chose to make his about supernovas. I had to help him with the putting holes in the box and getting the box together for the setup, but other than that he did everthing by himself...even the laminating! I love my little laminator. Those are battery powered christmas lights in the box to be little stars. We took his project to school this morning and he was so proud. It looks like most of the other kids did the planets for their project. They will be set up in the hallway next week for all the parents to see!

Well, we knew we had a friend on our front porch, but we didn't realize until tonight just how friendly she was. I was in the kitchen painting the walls and watching The Bachelor. Randy was in the boys bathroom trying to fix the broken valve to the faucet in the boys bathtub. All of a sudden I hear water running in the bathroom. At first I thought, good Randy figured out how to fix it. Then I realized it sounded more like gushing water! I ran to the bathroom about the time Randy ran out with a soaking wet shirt. He had put the peice in upside down and wanted to turn it over but forgot that he still had the main water vavle turned on, so when he took out the peice, water started shooting straight out of the hot water knob, and hit the back wall of the bathtub, and was splashing all over the bathroom. I was cracking up! Randy ran outside to shut the water off, while I'm inside laughing my head off at my wonderful handyman.

Well when Randy opens the door to come back in, our little bird friend here in the picture decides to fly in our house! I come out of the bathroom and scream, bc I see this massive thing flying in circles in my living room. Randy comes running in and calmly opens all the doors in the house expecting our little mama bird to just fly right on out. Oh no, she just kept flying and flying. She flew into the boys bedroom and the kitchen and then back to circles and circles in the living room. The only thing I could think to do was try to catch her with the pool net. I didn't want to hit her hard with it though and kill her, bc she has eggs in her nest outside. Well after 30 minutes of trying to help her out the door, we finally cornered her in the entry way and were able to get her back out the door. Poor thing. I'm sure she will sleep good tonight. I'm still laughing my head off at the entire situation!

Today I took the boys to get their pictures in the bluebonnets, which I love to do. We didn't really get to see a many when we lived in Atlanta. These are actually at a rest stop between our hosue and Lone Oak...only ten minutes from our house! I'm no great photographer like some of you, but I got some good pictures that I really enjoy!

I could tell the boys were getting bored with all the posing I was making them do, so I let them each choose some of their own poses.... below is Bradley's chosen pose...

And here is Jake's chosen pose....I know...don't ask!!!

I love this picture. To me it captures how much Jake admires Bradley and how much Bradley cares about his little brother.

If you look in Jake's hand, he's holding the bluebonnets and "redbonnets," as he called them, that he picked for me.

And of course Bradley found a good reason to bring and use his pocket knife.... To cut down flowers for his mother. And FYI it is not illegal to pick bluebonnets. They said that on the news last year or the year before I believe....and if I'm wrong, oh well, come and get us!

I just like the picture I took below. Nothing too special about it, just thought it was pretty.

Sunset

Blogger wouldn't let me post this last night, but I still wanted to share what we found in our backyard in the midst of the grey skies.

Bradley said it was "God's hole from Heaven."

Camping

Randy and I took the boys camping Sat-Mon at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park. It's about on hour east of us. The first night we were there the park was packed...didn't really feel as much like camping with every camp site full, but it was still fun. By 2:00 Sunday afternoon EVERYONE cleared out and we had the whole site to ourselves. That was pretty cool. And a lot darker and scarier! Two racoons got into a fight at the site next to us and that was scary to listen to. The boys had a blast. These pictures are the boys helping Randy get the tent up. I think we need a bigger tent next time we go. We were pretty jammed in there. We had a good time. We had chilli dogs and smores, went hiking (which Jake thought he needed to find a fighting stick not a hiking stick), went fishing, and played. It was a nice little break away.

We took the boys on a couple of different hikes. This is the first hike we took and Jake said he needed a rest. His little knees and feet didn't keep up to well with the rest of us, so he got to ride on dads shoulders a lot.

This is break time on another hike we took. Double stuffed oreos and beef jerky. YUM!

The first morning we were there Randy sent me to the bait store to get worms. Since I was by myself no one else got to see the deer, but I thought it was cool.

We took the boys fishing and had NO clue what we were doing. We managed to catch this perch the first five minutes we were out there and then nothing else all day. Everyone else said they hadn't cought anything either. Of course I was holding the fishing pole and reeling it in, but since Jake was watching it, he said He caught the fish!

Bradley really enjoyed letting the minnos go free, He didn't like that we had to kill them to fish with them.

I think the boys had more fun playing with the worms than actually fishing with them.The worms are now in our garden helping the soil :)

And on our short hour long trip home from our camping, we did not expect to see this!!! Camels, zebras, ardvarks, kangaroos, and some other exotic animals I can't name. They were for sell for I guess circuses or something. Crazy, but the boys sure thought it was cool!

Well things have slowed down a little. I didn't share this in the last post, but last Thursday we found out Randy's dad (John/Papa) will not be taking any more chemo treatments for his cancer. He is now in hospice care. Between Thursday and today, the tumor has grown so rapidly that Grandma Deborah said it is starting to show on the right side of his face. I am soooo thankful that Deborah has been able to be there with John, but I know she is tired. Hopefully hospice can provide rest for them and comfort for John. Pray for them. John is a man of great faith and believes God can do anything and is in control of this entire situation. We love them both very much!

Yesterday was a nice treat for me. I got to babysit the SWEETEST (I would underline that if I knew how) baby ever. I believe we are done having babies, so I really enjoy getting to keep other peoples babies and then giving them back :) He was such a cutie though. Bradley got to ride the bus home from school since I couldn't take the baby to pick him up. I forgot to tell him that there would be a baby (he's 9 or 10 months I believe) at our house when he got home. He came in and gave the baby a odd look and then said "is he like a newborn or something?" Ha! too cute. I don't think he was as impressed with the baby as I was :)

Today I took myself over to Central Market. I loooove this place. I got a bunch of yummy stuff. I decided to add whole grains to my healthy lifestyle. I totally broke the diet Thursday-Saturday. We were outside non stop during the baseball tournament and Randy had short windows of time to eat, so it was easier to just pick up fast food. Oh well, back to the good stuff. I'm really happy with myself and am really enjoying being healthy.

I also want to say that my Bradley is such a sweet kid (except for the occasional "go away Jake") . He is so thoughtfull of others and always seems to consider the way others might feel about situations they are in. He's a great kid! I am proud of him.

So we received quite a few phone calls yesterday from concerned friends. Thanks. Everything is fine, a little stressful, but fine. Yesterday at the High School, a teenager committed suicide with a gun at 7:15 am. School starts at 7:30. A little scary to know a child took a gun into the school, but a very sad situation. I won't go into all the details, just repeat what was on the news. Randy had the boy in his second period class. The school let kids go home if their parents came to get them and then the rest of the kids stayed at school. Which I think was a WISE decision by the administration. That way the kids had access to counselors (which they brought in extra) and could receive the help if needed, instead of sending the kids home to deal with it on their own.

Anyway, I feel bad for Randy. This is the second traumatic experience he/we have been throught from school. The first was in Ferris when we lost our good friend Mike, December 4th 2001, in a car accident right in front of the school. He was a coach with Randy. Randy had to go to the car and see Mike there and then tell his wife what happened.

I don't know, just stressful stuff to deal with. Don't really understand it all. I did get a diet coke yesterday. first one in almost 3 weeks. I'm back to water again though. Just wanted to treat myself I guess. I'm trying to make things less stressful for Randy at home. He has baseball games all day today, Friday, and Saturday. Maybe Sunday he can get some much deserved rest.

Sleepy Head

Randy and I aren't real adamate about a bedtime for Jake. Believe me he gets all the sleep he needs, but since he isn't in school full time yet, we tend to let him stay up later than Bradley. These are some of my favorite photos of Jake sleeping, because they are often a frequent occurance. So here they are....

This is the "I've played so hard today I'm tuckered out." This photo was actually taken in California a while back ago when we went to visit Papa and Grandma. Like I said though, this type of sleeping in the car happens frequently after a hard day of playing.

 

This is the "I really have to pee in the middle of the night, and I'm too tired to make it all the way back to bed, so I think I'll just sleep here on this mat on the hard tile floor!"

 

And here we have the "I will show mom that I'm not tired even if she rocks me and I will wiggle and squirm to try to keep myself awake until I absolutely have no more wiggles left, because if I squirm around I can prolong going to sleep by ten minutes. As opposed to falling asleep right away if she holds me in her arms."

 

And lastley we have the, "Mom and dad don't know I'm in here playing with my toys and sunglasses to stay awake. That is unless I fall asleep with them on!"

 

Drug Free Greenville

The boys got to go to the coolest thing at the mall tonight. Drug Free Greenville sponsored this awseome event for all elementary aged kids in Greenville. They printed 49 different trading cards of Greenvilles finest heroes. The fire department, police department, and EMS all had their own hero trading cards printed and autographed them for the kids. On the back of each card was a fact about drugs. Notice Mcgruff had his own card as well. Bradley and Jake thought this was so cool! Of course I did too! I tried to look for the two ems people and firemen who helped me when I had my gas accident, but I couldn't see to well that night :) so I wasn't sure of who I thought it might be. Jake wore his NYPD shirt and got lots of compliments from the officers. The kids are supposed to take their cards to school and fill up bingo cards. The winning class gets a police escorted bus ride to eat lunch with the heroes in person! Too cool...I am just so impressed with Greenville tonight!

And one more thing....
My sister is having a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told the kids as soon as DeeAnne called and Bradley asked, "so what's his name?" HA! If only it were that easy to decide! Come on Bradley, we still have four more months :) !!!

Fun With Mimi!

Wow, blogger finally let me log in!!! I have had a lot of trouble with blogger since switching to the "new" blogger. And I haven't been able to leave comments to people lately (Jaime, Paige, Monica, Wade) I've wanted to comment but haven't been able to. It's either my slow dial up or this new blogger. Probably the Slow Dial up!

Anyway, my mom came over today and took Jake and I to Applebee's for lunch, It was soooo tempting to get something really bad to eat, but I was good and got a salad with grilled chicken. Not that chicken and ranch are on the diet, but I am doing really good on this diet. I FEEL WONDERFUL too!!! I have energy!!! It's great.

Mimi and Jake played with our molding sand today. This stuff is really cool. You can buy it at Lakeshore Learning store over by the galleria. It has wax in the sand so it is moldable. I love Lakeshore!!! It is a great educational store. We also have sand that scientist believe to be like mars sand. You pour water over it and it looks really cool under water but when you pull it out of the water it is completely dry! If your ever in that area, check out that store.

 

I'm so glad mom got to come down. She had been coming over almost weekly, but then we got busy, so I am really glad she came today. I bought Bradley one of those "Magic Rock" growing crystals from Target the other day and we put it together today while Mimi was here. I can remember doing this as kids and I don't remember it being one bit difficult. Well on the directions today it says how dangerous the gel is that makes the rocks grow and to wipe it up immediatley with soap and water if it spills and do not let it touch the skin. Yikes, scary that this is supposed to be an experiment for a kid!!! I don't even think we did it right or that the rocks are gonna grow. I checked on it tonight and it looks pretty pittiful. If it turns out to be anything great I'll let you know, but right now this is going on my list with the gell ant farm (posted in October) as an unimpressive, don't spend your money on it, toy!!!

 

Okay while I was editing this blogger did something with my last picture of Bradley watching his growing rocks do....NOTHING!!! Sorry, don' know where it went!